Artist finds her cowboy

Suzi Bradley Sheward has been connected with her cowboy.

The Bend, Ore., artist painted a portrait of a local cowboy from a photo she saw online, but wasn't able to find out his name to send him a print.

The Press ran the painting on Wednesday and Rocky Hilding immediately surfaced as the subject from readers and Hilding himself.

Hilding zipped Sheward, a horse owner herself, an email.

"I've never been so honored," Hilding wrote. "For sure you're an artist. A print of your painting would be greatly appreciated. Power of the press apparently is alive and well in the Internet age."

Sheward said she was surprised how fast Hilding surfaced after trying to reach him to also ask his permission for the portrait to be on a future cover of Cascade Arts and Entertainment magazine.

"My little heart nearly flew out of my body," she said of her reaction to being contacted. "I was excited that it happened so soon."

Hilding, who couldn't be reached for further comment, wrote that a friend who informed him that he was being sought by Sheward said, "She cleaned you up real good."

"Probably becoming an ex-friend," Hilding joked.

Both Hilding and Sheward, both single, said several friends have gotten in contact with them over the fun ordeal.

The title Hilding had on his photo on the Internet was "Jesse Won."

"Sounds like he may have," he wrote.